WAN-IFRA President
Mr. Jacob Mathew
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World Editors Forum President
Mr. Erik Bjerager


Dear Sirs!

First of all, I would like to thank you for responding to the invitation of President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and deciding to hold the 2012 World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Kyiv. Conducting these important events in Ukraine will serve the cause of supporting democracy, freedom of speech, and free media development in our country.

These issues are of principal importance for the President of Ukraine, who last July created the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on the analysis of the observance of legislation on the freedom of speech and protection of journalists.. Mentioned above Working Group functions under the Open Talk program, and it is a forum for the government and the public to discuss the current and pressing issues of the work of the media in Ukraine.

The Working Group meets monthly to consider complaints about violations in the area of the freedom of speech and protection of journalists. At its December 12, 2011 meeting the IWG reviewed and discussed in detail all the issues mentioned in your letters. We would like to inform you that the results of this meeting were the following.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has reexamined the incident with Mykolayiv journalist Oleksandr Vlaschenko, finding no reason to correlate the attack on him with his professional activities. Those guilty of the attack will be brought to justice under the laws of Ukraine.

We are watching the legal proceedings in the case of Georgiy Gongadze carefully.  As President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych has pointed out more than once, by our noninterference we have demonstrated our interest that this case be free of any pressure or obstacles and remain exclusively within the competence of  appropriate bodies that would ensure its lawful resolution. . Besides, the situation with the case of Georgiy Gongadze was put on the agenda of the next Working Group’s meeting as its main point of business.

Participants of the last IWG meeting of January 30 unanimously rejected proposed amendments to the Law of Ukraine On the Protection of Public Morality, and decided to study it in detail and discuss it at the next Working Group’s meeting scheduled on  March 15,  2012. Following the discussion, the Working Group will prepare joint recommendations to be sent to the authors of the amendments.

All the participants of the meeting supported actively your proposal to launch exchange programs and discussions of the state of the press freedom in Ukraine in the framework of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, using the IWG that is engaged in preparing these gatherings as their base.

The first extended meeting of the Working Group devoted to the Congress and Editors Forum preparation was held on February 14. The meeting’s agenda included the abovementioned point. The meeting decided that in the framework of the Open Talk program the Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine Ms. Darya Chepak would organize the meetings between the WAN-IFRA mission and the Interagency Working Group members in early April.

In this context we sincerely welcome the offer of assistance in organizing the events and programs to promote the development of press freedom in Ukraine, made by the Ukrainian Publishers Association Director General  Mr. Oleksiy Pogorelov.

Regarding your request of February 7, 2012 about the situation with the newspaper Express, we would like to inform you that the situation will be discussed at the next IWG meeting, attended by the conflicting parties and members of the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament) Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information, with the latter having already examined this issue and reviewed  the positions of all the parties concerned at the Committee’s February 8 meeting.

Should you like to get any updates on the results of this work, as well as on other issues related to the freedom of expression and journalists’ activities in Ukraine, please contact the Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine, Head of the Interdepartmental Working Group Ms. Darya Chepak.

We look forward to our further fruitful cooperation.

Yours sincerely,

Serhiy Lyovochkin
Head of Administration to the President of Ukraine